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Posted on 09/13/2006 10:47:08 AM PDT by Lorianne
An extraordinary — one might almost say unbelievable — industrial tribunal case in Manchester in March gave a rare insight into how attempts to accommodate “multicultural” religious needs at work actually appear only to apply to Muslims. It developed around a spat between Muslim employees at the Royal Mail and a member of the Odinist Fellowship (a group that apparently worships the old Nordic gods).
The case — Royal Mail group PLC versus Donald Holden — was described in a document posted on the TUC website by Robin Jackson, the information officer of the Odinist Fellowship, who attended both days of the hearing. Mr Jackson reported:
“Many of you will be surprised, as I was, to learn that, increasingly, employers with a large proportion of Muslim staff are being obliged to set aside rooms in the workplace for Muslim prayers, and to allow their employees to take time away from their duties to engage in these prayers. At the Mail Centre where Donald worked, there was just such a room, which was designated as a ‘Multicultural Room’. That is important, because never, at any time, did the Royal Mail claim that the Room was solely for Muslim use, or that non-Muslims might not use it for their own purposes.”
Mr Holden tried to use the room for his own religious purposes – which is ostensibly what it was for – but it quickly became apparent that it was, in reality, a Muslim Club Room, full of Korans and prayer calendars. Mr Holden left sheets of paper about Odinism in the room, on a chair by the sink.
One item of evidence at the tribunal was a book which required users of the room to sign for a key on entering and leaving. Mr Holden’s visits were always of short duration, and mainly on a Saturday, when the place was mostly empty. Mr Jackson takes up the story:
“I was able to see for myself, that certain names and signatures, evidently belonging to Muslim employees, recurred time and time again in the signing-in book, sometimes three or four times in a single shift, and that the duration of their stays was half an hour or more. Some would call this ‘skiving’.”
Obviously Mr Holden’s use of the room was not welcomed by the Muslim employees and eventually an anonymous complaint was made to the management that a “muddy footprint had been left on the carpet of the Multicultural Room.” As Mr Jackson reports: “What could this mean? There could be only one possible interpretation: quite clearly, the culprit had intended to attack the Muslim religion. And not only was it, self-evidently, an anti-Muslim footprint, but on closer examination it became obvious that it must have been an anti-Islamic boot; and no doubt that anti-Islamic boot had been wielded by an Islamophobic foot. And who else could that Islamophobic foot belong to? The principle suspect had to be Donald, of course!”
Incredibly, the Royal Mail set up hidden cameras in the room to trap the culprit who was causing the ‘damage’. After five months of this surveillance – no doubt costing thousands of pounds – the management admitted that they had nothing on Mr Holden. In fact, during the tribunal hearing, no-one could be found who had actually seen the muddy footprint.
But the Royal Mail management did see Mr Holden in the room, leaving his literature on the chair by the sink and briefly appearing to pray. Then, on 23 February 2005, Mr Holden was hauled before the Royal Mail management to explain his actions. He was unsure at this point what he had done that needed explanation. None of the managers could agree what exactly his offence had been. Nevertheless, despite the vagueness of it all, he was suspended from work, accused of “religiously aggravated harassment directed against the Muslim faith”.
The investigating officer claimed it was because he was leaving his Odinist literature in the room, and suggested to Mr Holden that he was not a real believer and that there was no such religion as Odinism. He also confiscated Mr Holden’s religious literature and destroyed it. Imagine what would have happened if he had done that to Islamic literature!
However, Mr Holden’s suspension from the Royal Mail continued, and after a failed appeal, he eventually took action under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. The Royal Mail then dismissed him. He had worked for them for thirty-three years with a completely unblemished record. He lost his pension rights and his livelihood. And all because, the Royal Mail said, he walked on the carpet in the “Multicultural Room”, with his shoes on.
The Tribunal heard this tale with incredulity and decided that Mr Holden had been unfairly dismissed, and ordered the Royal Mail to pay a substantial compensation package likely to run into six figures.
Another outcome of this extraordinary case is that Odinism is now a legally recognised religion – and, by extension, so so are all pagan religions
Sometimes they did kill their "chosen".
That said, Odin was quite bloody minded but overall fair (by the standards of the time). Unlike Allah, who seems a disturbed psychopath (also by the standards of the time).
Indeed, one Southpaw Aesir away, and this thread must be allowed in prayer rooms.
See Genesis 38:7-10
from where Onan's sin comes from and hence the previous joke I responded to saying "odinism" caused blindness.
>I don't suppose by any chance that Odinists use pigs as sacrificial animals, do they?
What, are you kidding?
From Bulfinch:
Valhalla is the great hall of Odin, wherein he feasts with his
chosen heroes, all those who have fallen bravely in battle, for
all who die a peaceful death are excluded. The flesh of the boar
Schrimnir is served up to them, and is abundant for all. For
although this boar is cooked every morning, he becomes whole
again every night. For drink the heroes are supplied abundantly
with mead from the she-goat Heidrun. When the heroes are not
feasting they amuse themselves with fighting. Every day they
ride out into the court or field and fight until they cut each
other in pieces. This is their pastime; but when meal-time
comes, they recover from their wounds and return to feast in
Valhalla.
Pork, ham, bacon, the other white meat... whatever you want to call it, pigs make good eatin' and are religiously important to Odinists and other Asatuar.
> There is at least one FReeper in that camp.
At least three.
Ah yes. Face the might of mine enchanted mallet, Mjolnir!
I don't care if he worships Odin, as long as Odin is not instructing adherents to blow up the rest of the world's population.
Good for MR. Holden I hope he gets fully compensated for putting up with this (&%(*&$.
> I don't care if he worships Odin, as long as Odin is not instructing adherents to blow up the rest of the world's population.
Not a problem. The various version of the old Norse faiths do share a few important points:
1) Don't care what religion *you* are. There's not a whiff of "we must convert you" in any of the lore that has survived. Nothign that suggests that your neighbor, your wife or your kid being some other religion is in any way a detriment to either you or them.
2) Unlike your more dangerous cults, the End Of The World is something the Norse gods are actively trying to *prevent,* or at least hold off. None of this "let's bring about the End Times!" garbage that real cults tend to have.
3) There are two distinct *races* of gods (Aesir and Vanir), who get along just fine and intermarry; and several of the gods are actually products of unions not only of the two godly races but also between gods and Jotun (giants) who are a *very* distinctly separate race. Consequently, unlike some religions I can mention, Asatru has a fairly clear *non* racist attitude built right in. No special chosen people, for instance.
4) There's not even remotely a built-in power structure or priestly heirarchy in Asatru. Virtually complete anarchy.
Upshot: While individual Odinists might decide to go pound the Hel out of someone, the idea of a holy war of forced conversion is laughable.
Hahaha...
I named my pet parakeet Onan because he was always spilling his seed.
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Hail Odin!
Spot on. Excellent synopsis.
Could be...
You and three?
You are a bad person...
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